E. San Juan Jr.

Last updated

Epifanio San Juan Jr., also known as E. San Juan Jr. (born December 29, 1938, in Santa Cruz, Manila, Philippines), [1] is a known Filipino American literary academic, Tagalog writer, Filipino poet, civic intellectual, activist, writer, essayist, video/film maker, editor, and poet whose works related to the Filipino Diaspora in English and Filipino writings have been translated into German, Russian, French, Italian, and Chinese. [2] As an author of books on race and cultural studies, [3] he was a "major influence on the academic world". [2] He was the director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center in Storrs, Connecticut in the United States. [1] In 1999, San Juan received the Centennial Award for Achievement in Literature from the Cultural Center of the Philippines because of his contributions to Filipino and Filipino American Studies. [2]

Contents

Education

San Juan received his elementary education in the Philippines at the Bonifacio Elementary School. He took secondary education at Jose Abad Santos High. [1] He graduated as a magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1958. [2] He received his master's degree in 1962. [1] He obtained a PhD degree from Harvard University in 1965 with the help of a Rockefeller fellowship and Harvard teaching fellowship]. [1] He was a fellow of the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy.

Career

He became a professor of the English language, Comparative Literature, Ethnic Studies, American Studies and Cultural Studies in the United States, Europe, the Philippines, and Taiwan. From 1961 to 1963, San Juan was appointed as a fellow and English-language tutor at Harvard University. [1] Among the other universities in the United States where he taught include the University of California at Davis, the University of Connecticut at Storrs, and the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. In the Philippines, he taught in the University of the Philippines in 2008, [4] and at the Ateneo de Manila. Other universities include the Bowling Green State University, Wesleyan University, the Universities of Leuven and Antwerp in Belgium, [4] and the National Tsing Hua University in the Republic of China (Taiwan). [2]

From 1998 to June 15, 2001, [3] San Juan was a professor [5] and the chairman of the Department of Comparative American Cultures in Washington State University. He was the executive director of the so-called Working Papers Series when he published essays on Cultural Studies and Ethnic Studies. In 2009, he became a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research of Harvard University. [2] He was also a Fulbright lecturer, fellow, and professor at the Center for the Humanities of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, [3] the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and at the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society in Ohio. [1]

In 2009-2010 he was a fellow of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, visiting professor of American Studies in Leuven University, Belgium (2003)and professor of English Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines (2008). Currently (2012=2013) he is a fellow of the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin; and director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center, Storrs, CT, & Washington DC, USA. He was appointed professorial lecturer (2015-2016)in cultural studies, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.

Works

Apart from writing about the Filipino Diaspora, San Juan's works include essays on race, social class, subalternity, and the U.S. Empire. His works were first published in 1954 on the pages of The Collegian New Review. After winning awards, his poems were anthologized in Godkissing Carrion/Selected Poems: 1954-1964 in 1964, in The Exorcism and Other Poems in 1967, and The Ashes of Pedro Abad Santos and Other Poems in 1985. [1] His literary milieu extends to "media pieces" related to the current political landscape, the human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, racial polity in the United States, social justice, global mechanism of racialization and its impact on immigrant workers of the global South, essays on Marxism, human liberation, and exposés related to the "resurrection" of the "contours" of the American empire. [2]

In 1966, he made translations of Amado V. Hernandez's poetry resulting to the work entitled Rice Grains: Selected Poems of Amado V. Hernandez. In 1975, he introduced the literary writings of Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino labor organizer and writer, resulting to the publication of Carlos Bulosan and the Imagination of the Class Struggle, the first full-length critical assessment of Bulosan's works, which was followed twenty years later by On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings by Carlos Bulosan and The Cry and the Dedication in 1995. He was also the author of the "first collection in English translation" of the essays written by Georg Lukács, a Hungarian philosopher and founder of the Western Marxist tradition. [2]

In 2007, San Juan authored a book of poems, the Balikbayang Mahal: Passages of Exile. [2] His other works are Racism and Cultural Studies, Working through the Contradictions, In the Wake of Terror, US Imperialism and Revolution in the Philippines, [4] Beyond Postcolonial Theory (1995), and Hegemony and Strategies of Transgression (1998). [5]

Recent books include "In the Wake of Terror: Class, Race, Nation and Ethnicity in the Postmodern World" (Lexington); "Working Through the Contradictions" (Bucknell University Press). "Critique and Social Transformation" (Edwin Mellen Press), "From Globalization to National Liberation" (University of the Philippines Press)."Balikbayang Sinta: E San Juan Reader" (Ateneo U Press), "Critical Interventions: From Joyce and Ibsen to Kingston and C.S. Peirce" (Saarbrücken: Lambert), and "Rizal in Our Time: revised edition" (Anvil). His new volumes of poetry include "Balikbayang Mahal: Passages in Exile,""Sutrang Kayumanggi," "Mahal Magpakailanman," Diwata Babaylan," and "Bukas Luwalhating Kay Ganda"(all available in amazon.com). The UST Publishing House will issue in 2013 his collection "Ulikba at iba pang bagong tula."

Recognitions

During May 1964, he won the Spanish Siglo de Oro Prize after writing a literary review and criticism of the poetry of Gongora. [1] In 1992, San Juan's Racial Formations/Critical Transformations: Articulations of Power in Ethnic and Racial Studies in the United States was awarded the Gustavus Myers Center's Outstanding Book Award for the Study of Human Rights in the United States. In 1993, the same work received the National Book Award in Cultural Studies from the Association for Asian American Studies. The book is regarded as a classic in Ethnic and Asian American Studies. [2] In 1999, San Juan Jr. received the Centennial Award for Achievement in Literature from the Cultural Center of the Philippines. [1] In 2001, San Juan's After Post-colonialism: Remapping Philippines-United States Confrontations won the Gustavus Myers Center for Human Rights's Outstanding Book Award on Human Rights [2] (also known as the Myers Distinguished Book Award). [1] In 2007, San Juan produced the books entitled In the Wake of Terror: Class, Race, Nation, Ethnicity in the Postmodern World, Imperialism and Revolution in the Philippines, Balikbayang Sinta: An E. San Juan Reader, and From Globalization to National Liberation: Essays. [2] San Juan's also received awards from the Association for Asian American Studies, and the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures in the United States. [1]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

Pinoy is a common informal self-reference used by Filipinos to refer to citizens of the Philippines and their culture as well as to overseas Filipinos in the Filipino diaspora. A Pinoy who has any non-Filipino foreign ancestry is often informally called Tisoy, a shortened word for Mestizo.

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan was an English-language Filipino novelist and poet who immigrated to America on July 1, 1930. He never returned to the Philippines and he spent most of his life in the United States. His best-known work today is the semi-autobiographical America Is in the Heart, but he first gained fame for his 1943 essay on The Freedom from Want.

<i>America Is in the Heart</i>

America Is in the Heart, sometimes subtitled A Personal History, is a 1946 semi-autobiographical novel written by Filipino American immigrant poet, fiction writer, short story teller, and activist, Carlos Bulosan. The novel was one of the earliest published books that presented the experiences of the immigrant and working class based on an Asian American point of view and has been regarded as "[t]he premier text of the Filipino-American experience." In his introduction, journalist Carey McWilliams, who wrote a 1939 study about migrant farm labor in California, described America Is in the Heart as a “social classic” that reflected on the experiences of Filipino immigrants in America who were searching for the “promises of a better life”.

Philippine literature in English has its roots in the efforts of the United States, then engaged in a war with Filipino nationalist forces at the end of the 19th century. By 1901, public education was institutionalized in the Philippines, with English serving as the medium of instruction. That year, around 600 educators in the S.S. Thomas were tasked to replace the soldiers who had been serving as the first teachers. Outside the academe, the wide availability of reading materials, such as books and newspapers in English, helped Filipinos assimilate the language quickly. Today, 78.53% of the population can understand or speak English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecilia Manguerra Brainard</span> American novelist

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is an author and editor of 20 books. She co-founded PAWWA or Philippine American Women Writers and Artists; and also founded Philippine American Literary House. Brainard's works include the World War II novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, and Woman With Horns and Other Stories. She edited several anthologies including Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and two volumes of Growing Up Filipino I and II, books used by educators.

Erlinda Kintanar Alburo is a prolific contemporary Cebuano language scholar and promoter of the language. She is the former Director of the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos, Philippines. She is an active member of Women in Literary Arts (WILA), and writes poetry both in English and cebuano. She teaches on the anthropology of linguistics. She has written 54 works in 4 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bienvenido Lumbera</span> Filipino writer (1932–2021)

Bienvenido Lumbera was a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. Lumbera is known for his nationalist writing and for his leading role in the Filipinization movement in Philippine literature in the 1960s, which resulted in his being one of the many writers and academics jailed during Ferdinand Marcos' Martial Law regime. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications in 1993, and was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for literature in 2006. As an academic, he is recognized for his key role in elevating the field of study which would become known as Philippine Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirilo Bautista</span> Filipino poet, critic and writer

Cirilo F. Bautista was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction. A National Artist of the Philippines award was conferred on him in 2014.

Resil Buagas Mojares is a Filipino historian and critic of Philippine literature best known as for his books on Philippine history. He is acclaimed by various writers and critics as the Visayan Titan of Letters, due to his immense contribution to Visayan literature. He was recognized in 2018 as a National Artist of the Philippines for Literature - a conferment which represents the Philippine state's highest recognition for artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epifanio de los Santos</span> Filipino academic

Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal, sometimes known as Don Pañong or Don Panyong, was a noted Filipino historian, journalist, and civil servant. He was regarded as one of the best Filipino writers and a literary genius. He also entered politics, serving as a member of the Malolos Congress from 1898 to 1899 from Nueva Ecija and later as governor of Nueva Ecija from 1902 to 1906. As a lawyer, he was named as the district attorney of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija in 1900 and later as fiscal of the provinces of Bulacan and Bataan. He was named as an assistant technical director of the Philippine Census in 1918. He was appointed Director of the Philippine Library and Museum by Governor General Leonard Wood in 1925, serving until his death in 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bienvenido Santos</span> American novelist

Bienvenido N. Santos was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N. V. M. Gonzalez</span> Philippine National Artist for Literature

Néstor Vicente Madali González was a Filipino novelist, short story writer, essayist and, poet. Conferred as the National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 1997.

Kritika Kultura (KK) is the semi-annual peer-reviewed international electronic journal of literary, language and cultural studies of the Department of English of the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. It touts itself as "a pioneering academic electronic journal in the Philippines" and "the only academic e-journal of its kind in the Philippines today."

John Iremil Teodoro is a Filipino writer, creative writing and literature teacher, literary critic, translator, and cultural scholar. He is also considered to be a leading pioneer in Philippine gay literature and the most published author in Kinaray-a.

Danton Relato Remoto is a Filipino writer, essayist, reporter, editor, columnist, and professor. Remoto received the first prize at the ASEAN Letter-Writing Contest for Young People. The award earned Remoto a scholarship at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. As a professor, Remoto taught English and Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University. Remoto is the chairman emeritus of Ang Ladlad, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political party in the Philippines.

Soledad Sarmiento Reyes is a Philippine literature scholar, literary and art critic, author, anthologist, consultant, professor, instructor, editor, annotator, researcher, and essayist in the Philippines. Specializing in the field of popular culture and the arts in the Philippines, Reyes is a professor teaching interdisciplinary studies at the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University. She is an accomplished author of books and anthologies. "sa nobela mababalatuba ang mga pangyayati sa buhay ng isang kagawad sa union

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfredo Pascual Jr.</span>

Wilfredo O. Pascual Jr. is an internationally acclaimed essayist, winner of the Curt Johnson Prose Award for Nonfiction and a runner-up to the Steinberg Essay Prize. In 2016, he was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He grew up in the Philippines where his essays have won several national awards, including the Palanca's grand prize twice and the Philippine Free Press Literary Awards. He is also a board of trustees adviser and member of the Samahang Makasining, Inc. since 2005.

Sulpicio Selerio Osório was a Filipino editor, poet, and writer of fiction and essay in Cebuano language.

Luis H. Francia is a Filipino American poet, playwright, journalist, and nonfiction writer. His memoir, Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, won both the 2002 PEN Open Book and the 2002 Asian American Literary Awards.

Gelacio Y. Guillermo Jr. was a Filipino poet, critic, translator, essayist, and revolutionary.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Epifanio San Juan, Jr". panitikan.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-13. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cabusao, Jeffrey Arellano (assistant professor of English and Cultural Studies at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island ) (July 1, 2008). "Epifanio San Juan, Jr. of the Dancing Mind". globalnation.inquirer.net. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 Department Head Resigns, Blasts Diversity Efforts - Epifanio San Juan, Washington State University Overlooked Promises, findarticles.com, June 7, 2001
  4. 1 2 3 Epifanio San Juan, Jr., dubois.fas.harvard/edu
  5. 1 2 Epifanio San Juan, Jr., humnet.ucla.edu
  6. nyc.indymedia.org